SPT to temporarily cover routes affected by McGill's planned cuts

The bus company recently said it would discontinue several routes, including the 540 from Clynder Road and the X22 to Clydebank, citing rising costs and the retraction of the Scottish Government’s Covid-19 recovery funding as its reasoning.

The decision was met with outrage from passengers, councillors, and MSP Katy Clark, who said local bus services were ‘in crisis’.

Now Strathclyde Partnership for Transport has announced new subsidised contracts which will cover some of the withdrawn routes.

Whilst not all the services offer ‘like for like’ replacements, bosses say they will supplement existing routes and offer connections to others.

The X22 from Port Glasgow to Clydebank will provide wider service connections to and from Greenock, and will also additionally serve Clydebank Health Centre from Monday to Friday.

In Greenock, the 543 from Nicolson Street will run two late evening return journeys between Monday and Saturday, as well as four on Sunday.

David Wilson is the chair of the SPToperations comittee (Image: Newsquest)

A Saturday morning journey will run on the 543 route from Trumpethill to Greenock at 8.16am.

David Wilson, chair of the SPT operations committee, said: “Where they have been able, SPT has managed to amend and adapt current contracted services to help provide some solutions to ensure that people will be able to travel when and where they need to.

“However, make no mistake, this is not sustainable for the long-term future of bus services in our area.

READ MORE: Petition launched opposing plan to cut McGill's 540 bus route

“SPT cannot continue to step in as operators continue to withdraw services.

“There needs to be a long-term plan to tackle some of the deep routed issues and problems facing the bus market.”

Ms Clark, MSP for the West Scotland region, said she had contacted SPT after speaking with concerned constituents, and told the Tele that she will write to the body to ensure the plans are not ‘a stay of execution for these routes’.

Katy Clark slammed McGill's plans (Image: Archive)

She added: “It is nevertheless regrettable that communities are expected to rely upon SPT to intervene in the first place.

“The bus industry receives hundreds of millions of pounds in taxpayers’ money every year, some of which leaks out to private shareholders in the form of dividends.

“Operators should not be receiving blank cheques – strict conditions must be placed on public funds to ensure lifeline services are maintained.

 “Privatisation has been a disaster for Scotland’s buses, with fares through the roof and passenger numbers through the floor.

“Local authorities now finally have the power to bring buses under local control, but they need funding and resources from the Scottish Government to make this possible.

“They also need a level playing field to be able to compete with the private operators. 

“Scottish Labour will continue to campaign for services based on need, not profit, with services protected and fares capped for commuters.”